Crystal Gayle and her sister Loretta Lynn had a complicated relationship.
Gayle was a crossover sensation, and Lynn was pure country. There was only one Loretta Lynn, and Gayle learned that early in her career, so they made a point to distinguish themselves.
Nineteen years younger than her legendary sister, Gayle would have to adapt in order to survive in the music business.
Lynn died Tuesday at age 90 on her farm outside Nashville. She was one of the reigning queens of country music and forever will be known as one of the all-time greats.
“It’s so hard to get started and succeed in this business, and I have always been proud of you,” Gayle said during the 1986 Living Legend awards. “You have always been a legend to me. I love you.”
Gayle brought her own talent to a local audience Sunday night at the Oxford Performing Arts Center. Gayle’s concert was a mix of her many hits and a tribute to Lynn, whose anthems about her hardscrabble upbringing and women’s issues were ahead of their time.
Gayle and I go back nearly 40 years to when she was a rising country music star and I was a junior in college.
Gayle was the opening act for Kenny Rogers at the old Stokely Athletic Center on the University of Tennessee-Knoxville campus in 1983. “The Gambler” was hotter than a firecracker, making movies, working with Lionel Richie and the Bee Gees on studio albums and recording duets with Sheena Easton, Kim Carnes and Dolly Parton. Tickets were hard to come by. I was in about the 100th row.
At the time, Gayle was 31. Known for her northern accent and hair that flowed down her back, almost to the floor, Gayle sang a crossover blend of pop country that was a bit controversial at the time and in contrast to Lynn’s pure country performances.
Sunday night at the Oxford Performing Arts Center, our schedules collided again. Gayle, now 71, was in town to perform, and I was in the fourth row and could see her famous sparkling blue eyes.
Gayle’s soft pop sounded nothing like Lynn in the 1970s and 1980s, her critics noticed. To me, that was a good thing.
While I occasionally listened to the “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” I could take Lynn and her stories about Butcher Holler, Ky., in small doses.
Gayle was a Grammy winner with perfect diction who appealed to a wider audience, leading to speculation of a rivalry with Lynn, one of seven siblings.
“People try to make it like we compete, but that’s all in their minds,” Lynn said in an interview with People magazine “We fight a little bit, but that’s just sisters. And we never fight over the music business.”
Regardless, Gayle found her own style and success, coming from the same early background as her sister. When she was 4, the family moved a world away to Wabash, Ind., about two hours north of Indianapolis. Her father, the coal miner, who suffered from black lung disease, passed away just a few years later.
Gayle was a pioneer in music. She paved the once bumpy road for other crossover stars such as Faith Hill, Shania Twain and Carrie Underwood. She has had 18 No. 1 country hits, two more than Lynn.
The Grand Ole Opry offered her a membership in 2017, perhaps putting the crossover controversy among Nashville hardliners behind her. Many wondered why it took so long to honor her.
The Opry used to have strict rules about what performers would play and how they would sound. Opry boss Roy Acuff and his other executives even snubbed their nose at Elvis. They hated rockabilly.
Gayle’s voice feels the same in 2022 as it was in 1983. Sunday, when she sang “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue,” “Half The Way” or “You Been Talking In Your Sleep,” she sounded like a legend. She might not be able to hit the high notes like she used to, but she’s more soulful. She engages with the audience and her band better than most on today’s pop or country music scene.
A great addition to her band has been older sister Peggy Sue Wright, 79, who sings backup after singing for Lynn’s band in the 1960s. Wright performed “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and “Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ (With Lovin On Your Mind)” for the Oxford crowd.
“I just do back-up vocals, so I can just chill out while she’s out there stressing and a’singing,” Wright said in an interview with countrystarscentral.com. “I like that part.”
Gayle revealed to the audience that Peggy Sue, not Loretta, wrote “Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’.” It became Lynn’s first No. 1 hit and her signature song.
“Loretta only changed a few words to suit her,” Gayle said.
Everyone wanted to see whether Gayle’s hair was as long and straight as in her prime. It was even longer, though she says she trims 6-9 inches per year.
“I know some people think: ‘Why does she keep it so long?’” Gayle said in a recent interview. “I’d probably love to try all the different styles, but I’m not a beautician. So, I keep it long. It’s easy to wash and let it go.”
The comparisons of Loretta and Crystal — traditional vs. crossover and hillbilly storyteller vs. polished balladeer — will live on as long as Gayle continues to perform. Lynn, who was ill for most of the last five, stayed mostly on her farm outside Nashville before dying.
The 1980 movie “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” for which actress Sissy Spacek won an Academy Award, has as much to do with Lynn being larger than life and subject to tabloid rumors.
“We have one Loretta Lynn and we don’t need another,” Gayle told a Florida newspaper in 2018.
Now Loretta Lynn is gone. Her music will live on through her sister, even though she spent a career differentiating herself.
As we found in 1983 and again in Oxford, there’s only one Crystal Gayle. And that’s all the music world needs for now — thanks to her rich catalog of music and modest touring schedule (she’ll be in Las Vegas for three dates in late October).
“It’s great to see the people I have met through the years,” Gayle said in a 2020 podcast interview with radio host and singer Candy O’Terry. “They’re not just fans. They’re friends that I have made.”
With the news about Loretta Lynn, Crystal Gayle will feel closer to country fans more than ever.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism